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The aim of this study is to investigate how men in the social service in Gävle experience gender biases within the social work profession. We conducted a qualitative research with five male social workers that we interviewed regarding gender biases. The main result ended up under three themes which are client influence and reinforcement; work culture; and lastly the unconscious experience. The conclusion is that male social workers experience gender biases accordingly through three themes.

This book is based on triangulation research consisting of a sociological qualitative and quantitative study among people struck by cancer and a study conducted among nurses working in cancer care.

The aim of the book is to present the results of these studies, in particular those of the quantitative study.

The qualitative study aimed at identifying the religious and spiritually oriented coping methods used by cancer patients in Sweden, which serves as an example of societies in which religion is not an integrated part of the social life of individuals. The empirical data for the study were based on interviews with cancer patients. Fifty-one interviews were conducted in various parts of Sweden with patients suffering from different types of cancer. Concerning the use of religious and spiritually oriented methods by the Swedish informants, we learn that gaining control over the situation is a very important coping strategy for them. The informants show a strong tendency toward relying primarily on themselves for solving problems related to their disease. Receiving help from other sources, among others God or a supreme power, seems to primarily be a way to gain more power to help oneself, as opposed to passively waiting for a miracle. For the informants, thinking about spiritual matters and spiritual connection seems to be more important than participating in religious rituals and activities. Turning to nature as a sacred and available resource is a coping method that all informants have used, regardless of their outlook on God, their religion and philosophy of life or their age and gender. The qualitative study shows clearly the impact of culture on coping.

The qualitative study on nurses focuses on coping among Swedish oncology nurses. The research questions were close to the coping theory (Pargament, 1997) that was used for interpretation. 1. How can the stress experienced by oncology nurses be described? (Ekedahl & Wengström, 2007) 2. Which functional and dysfunctional coping strategies do nurses use to cope with work-related stress? (Ekedahl & Wengström, 2006) 3. What religious components can be identified as coping resources in oncology nurses’ orienting system and what function does religiosity have in their work? (Ekedahl & Wengström, 2010) 4. How does culture influence the coping process through different coping styles? (Ekedahl, 2011; Ekedahl & Wengström, 2012)

Four levels of stress were identified: the individual level of the nurse, a group level that is related to the team, an organizational level, and a cultural level. Nurses working in cancer care have to cope with different types of stress. They move from simpler types to the worst type of stress: multifaceted stress with an existential dimension. The most intensive stress is on the individual level and the group level, where the existential dimension is activated.

Concerning the coping strategies, the dominant one is boundary demarcation. Lack of this important strategy is dysfunctional. Religious coping is dominated by basic trust and prayer and can provide support. Using concepts from cultural psychology, individualistic and collectivistic coping are suggested as additional coping styles.

The aim of the quantitative study was to examine the extent to which the results obtained in the qualitative study among cancer patients, explained above, are applicable to a wider population of cancer patients in Sweden. In addition to questions relating to the former qualitative study, this survey also makes use of the RCOPE questionnaire (designed by Kenneth I Pargament) in designing the quantitative study. In this quantitative study, 5000 questionnaires were distributed among persons diagnosed with cancer; 2355 people responded. The results show that nature has been the most important coping method among cancer patients in Sweden.

The highest mean value (2.9) is for the factor ‘nature has been an important resource to you in allowing you to deal with your illnesses.’ Two out of three respondents (68%) affirmed that this method helped them feel significantly better during or after their illness. The second highest average (2.8) is for the factor ‘listening to “natural music” (birdsong and the wind).’ Two out of three respondents (66%) answered that this coping method helped them feel significantly better during their illness. The third highest average (2.7) is for the factor ‘walking or engaging in any activity outdoors gives you a spiritual sense.’ Concerning the role of nature as the most important coping method for cancer patients, this survey confirms the results obtained from the previous qualitative studies.

Moreover, the results of the quantitative study indicate that few informants used religious coping methods, as they were inclined to trust their own abilities to solve problems more than other sources of power, such as God or a religious authority. This result may be partly due to the predominance of secularism in Swedish society and the strong position individualism plays in Swedish culture, which fosters the idea that individuals are responsible for tackling their own problems.

In this chapter, the result of three research studies on meaning-making coping conducted among cancer patients in Sweden is used to highlight the effect of music in coping with cancer. The first research was a qualitative research aiming to study coping with cancer, through religious and spiritual means, from a cultural perspective. The second project was a quantitative study, which aimed to determine to what extent the result of the first study could be generalized to the cancer patients in Sweden. The third study had as its target to investigate the cancer patients’ own understanding of the role of music in coping. The results of these studies indicate the impact of culture in using music as a coping method when facing the psychological burden cancer brings with itself. The outcomes of the third study showed, besides the impact of culture, the individual characteristics of the music as a coping method.

6. Ensamkommande barn i ett internationellt och nationellt perspektiv

Ahmadi, Fereshteh

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

Background: This study investigated patients’ understanding of the role of music in coping and in influencing their well-being.

Methods: A qualitative study was conducted based on semi-structured interviews with 17 cancer patients. Participants were chosen from a group of patients who had listened to or played music as a means of coping with their illness.

Results: The study shows the importance of considering the roles that different kinds of music play in coping with cancer. The music of nature, healing music, religious music and cheerful music each have different benefits for patients.

Conclusions: A patient’s situation and his or her individual characteristics determine the types of that music can act as a useful or harmful coping strategy. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the types of individual characteristics that can make listening to different kinds of music a helpful or harmful coping method.

This book provides an alternative, complementary approach to the existing conventional approaches to religious and spiritually oriented coping. By focusing on the role of culture, the authors take into account the methods employed by a vast number of people who do not directly identify themselves as religious. The empirical data used in this book derive from studies conducted in several countries; Sweden, China, South Korea, Turkey and Malaysia, across which religion plays a different role in the social and cultural life of individuals. This approach and these empirical data are unique and allow comparisons to be made between different cultural settings.

By introducing the concept of meaning-making coping, the authors explore the influence of culture on choice of coping methods, be they purely religious, spiritual or existential. The term "existential meaning-making coping" is used to describe coping methods that are related to existential questions; these methods include religious, spiritual and existential coping methods.

Meaning-making Methods for Coping with Serious Illness contributes to new approaches and theoretical models of coping. As such it is an invaluable resource for health care, medical, public health and sociology students and researchers. It will also be of interest to educators and policy-makers working in the area of health.

9. Nature as the most important coping strategy among cancer patients

Ahmadi, Fereshteh

et al.

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

Ahmadi, Nader

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

The authors have conducted a quantitative survey to examine the extent to which the results obtained in a qualitative study among cancer patients in Sweden (Ahmadi, Culture, religion and spirituality in coping: The example of cancer patients in Sweden, Uppsala, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2006) are applicable to a wider population of cancer patients in this country. In addition to questions relating to the former qualitative study, this survey also references the RCOPE questionnaire (designed by Kenneth I Pargament) in the design of the new quantitative study. In this study, questionnaires were distributed among persons diagnosed with cancer; 2,355 people responded. The results show that nature has been the most important coping method among cancer patients in Sweden. The highest mean value (2.9) is the factor ‘nature has been an important resource to you so that you could deal with your illnesses’. Two out of three respondents (68 %) affirm that this method helped them feel significantly better during or after illness. The second highest average (2.8) is the factor ‘listening to ‘natural music’ (birdsong and the wind)’. Two out of three respondents (66 %) answered that this coping method significantly helped them feel better during illness. The third highest average (2.7) is the factor ‘to walk or engage in any activity outdoors gives you a spiritual sense’. This survey concerning the role of nature as the most important coping method for cancer patients confirms the result obtained from the previous qualitative studies.

To understand the role of culture on the use of the meaning-making coping among people who have been struck by cancer, qualitative and quantitative studies have been conducted in several countries like Sweden, China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, and Turkey. This article reports on a quantitative study carried out in Turkey. The aim of the study has been to answer the following question: “Which meaning-making coping method (even nonreligious or spiritual coping methods) is used by informants?” The sample consists of 95 persons, 18+ who had been struck by cancer. The questionnaire was distributed to former/current cancer patients via a web address as an electronic survey through the media page of Cancer Survivors Association. The results of the study show that the most important coping methods used by cancer patients in Turkey are the religious coping (RCOPE) methods, particularly spiritual connection, active religious surrender, passive religious deferral, and pleading for direct intercession. Several RCOPE methods such as spiritual discontent, seeking support from clergy or members, punishing God reappraisal, and demonic reappraisal or self-directing religious coping are not used by the Turkish informants. Nor are non-RCOPE methods highly prevalent among informants.

The aim of this article is to elucidate and discuss the results of the 2016 Diversity Barometer (Mångfaldsbarometern) and compare these results with those obtained from ten years of the longitudinal Diversity Barometers for 2005?2014. An additional aim is to demonstrate whether and how Swedish people?s experiences of and attitudes toward people with a foreign background and ethnic diversity have changed.A random sample of the Swedish population took part in the annual study, which was carried out in the form of a nationwide postal survey. The results show that negative attitudes toward ethnic and cultural diversity in general, and migrant population in particular, have increased to some extent and with respect to certain issues. Views on diversity in relation to culture and religion ? especially Islam ? were more negative than views on diversity in relation to work. Those who have larger experience of contact with foreigners show a more positive attitude toward diversity compared with those with limited experience and contact. Individuals who have higher education, those who identify themselves as female, younger persons and those living in large cities are more positive than other groups. In our analysis of the empirical data, we proceeded from a social work perspective and applied contact theory and group conflict theories relating attitudes to group position.

The present article is based on an international study on meaning-making coping aimed at understanding the role of culture in coping. The larger study has been conducted among cancer patients in 10 countries. The present article is confined to the results obtained in our study in Iran and restricted to religious coping methods. Twenty-seven participants with various kinds of cancer were interviewed. The several religious coping methods found in the present study are categorised on the basis of RCOPE?s five basic religious functions. The study reveals, among others, the impact of cultural beliefs on certain religious coping methods, even among those who are not regarded as practicing Muslims. The study highlights the importance of investigating cultural and social context when exploring the use of the meaning-making coping strategies in different countries.

The present article is part of an international study on meaning-making coping aimed at understanding the role of culture in coping in different cultural settings. The international study was conducted among cancer patients in ten countries. This article contains the results obtained in the study in Portugal. The main aim is to investigate the impact of culture on the meaning-making coping methods used by cancer patients. In the present article, only religious/spiritual coping methods are in focus.

Thirty-one participants with various kinds of cancer (e.g., breast, testicular, lymphoma) were interviewed. Nine different kinds of coping methods related to religion and spirituality emerged from analysis of the interviews. These methods, which are categorized on the basis of RCOPE’s five basic religious functions (Pargament, 1997), are: Seeking Spiritual Support, Spiritual Connection, Spiritual Discontent, Benevolent Religious Reappraisal, Punishing God Reappraisal, God’s Trust in Personal Strength, Support from Clergy or Members, Self-Directing Religious Coping and Active Religious Surrender. The study confirms the notion that the strategies people employ when they are stricken by disease, accidents, misfortune, etc., are cultural and temporal constructions. As such, they are valid in concrete contexts and time periods. It is, thus, important that cultural context be taken into consideration when exploring the use of meaning-making coping strategies in different countries.

The present study compared meaning-making coping among cancer patients in Sweden and South Korea, with a focus on the sociocultural context. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 51 Swedes and 33 Koreans. The results showed significant differences between the two countries as well as similarities in existential, spiritual, and religious coping. For example, Swedes primarily used meaning-making coping as a means of meditation or relaxation, whereas Koreans relied on coping with prayer and using healthy foods as a means to survive. The present study confirms the significance of investigating cultural context when we explore the use of meaning-making coping among people who have experienced cancer.

The present study aimed to explore the use of meaning-making coping (existential, spiritual, and religious coping) among cancer patients in Korea and to investigate the impact of culture on their choice of coping methods. Thirty-three participants with various kinds of cancer were interviewed. Four different kinds of coping resources emerged from analyses of the interview transcripts: (1) belief in the healing power of nature; (2) mind–body connection; (3) relying on transcendent power; and (4) finding oneself in relationships with others. The findings of this study suggest the importance of investigating cultural context when exploring the use of the meaning-making coping strategies in different countries.

In the present article, based on results from a survey study in Sweden among 2,355 cancer patients, the role of religion in coping is discussed. The survey study, in turn, was based on earlier findings from a qualitative study of cancer patients in Sweden. The purpose of the present survey study was to determine to what extent results obtained in the qualitative study can be applied to a wider population of cancer patients in Sweden. The present study shows that use of religious coping methods is infrequent among cancer patients in Sweden. Besides the two methods that are ranked in 12th and 13th place, that is, in the middle (Listening to religious music and Praying to God to make things better), the other religious coping methods receive the lowest rankings, showing how nonsignificant such methods are in coping with cancer in Sweden. However, the question of who turns to God and who is self-reliant in a critical situation is too complicated to be resolved solely in terms of the strength of individuals’ religious commitments. In addition to background and situational factors, the culture in which the individual was socialized is an important factor. Regarding the influence of background variables, the present results show that gender, age, and area of upbringing played an important role in almost all of the religious coping methods our respondents used. In general, people in the oldest age-group, women, and people raised in places with 20,000 or fewer residents had a higher average use of religious coping methods than did younger people, men, and those raised in larger towns.

Doping – the use of performance-enhancing substances and methods – has long been a high-profile issue in sport but in recent years it has also become an issue in wider society. This important new book examines doping as a public health issue, drawing on a multi-disciplinary set of perspectives to explore the prevalence, significance and consequences of doping in wider society. It introduces the epidemiology of doping, examines the historical context, and explores the social, behavioural, legal, ethical and political aspects of doping. The book also discusses possible interventions for addressing the problem on organisational and societal levels.

24. Introduction

Ahmadi, Nader

et al.

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

Ljungqvist, Arne

Svedsäter, Göran

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Health and Caring Sciences, Sports science.

The concept of “doping” is usually associated with sport, particularly elite sport. In fact, doping means the use of substances or methods that are banned in sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) because of their potentially performance-enhancing effects. Their use is, therefore, considered to be against the fair play spirit of sport and can also include significant health risks for the user. However, the use of many doping substances is no longer limited to the world of sport. Doping substances such as anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are nowadays used also by people who are not competitive athletes but who want to make use of the effects of AAS in making their bodies more muscular, stronger and impressive in conformity with the current masculine body ideal. The use of AAS and similar substances appears to be growing and has been found in a range of countries previously not researched. At least, recent data obtained from customs seizures, court cases and some surveys suggest that the extent of AAS use outside sport has been underestimated, some reasons probably being an underground circulation of such drugs in the gym and fitness culture and the easy availability of them on the internet. One particular concern is the increasing use of nutritional supplements by growing segments of society. A significant percentage of these products have been shown to contain prohibited substances such as steroids that are not listed on the label. This shows that the nutritional supplement industry needs to be more strictly regulated. Until that happens, supplements of dubious value, content and quality will continue to be easily available around the world. What, then, are the possible reasons that active and health-conscious individuals are willing to take the risk to use preparations such as AAS? A review of the research shows that the most important motive behind the use of AAS outside the elite sports environment, i.e., in a fitness context, is to improve physical appearance. Although most users are boys and young and middle-aged men, also women of various ages use doping substances. Different types of slimming pills are popular among women (including hormone preparations), but possibly even more interesting are the new female fitness and appearance ideals that are connected to muscles and strength. The body has become increasingly important for saying something about who we are. The hunt for the perfect appearance creates a situation where denial instead of acceptance of one’s own body influences the individual’s self-image.

25. "The winner takes it all"

Ahmadi, Nader

et al.

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

Svedsäter, Göran

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Health and Caring Sciences, Sports science.

A common misconception in today's society is that everything is (or should be) rational and goal-oriented, which we summarized earlier as pragmatic rationalism. We call this pragmatic rationalism a misconception because it misses a historical fact that individuals' actions are and have never been governed entirely by rational motives. Emotional, ethical and existential considerations influence human actions extensively. Solidarity, willingness to share and even self-sacrifice and prioritizing the good of others before one's own are values that have survived many different economic cultures. Even today's extremely individualized society with its focus on reaching success and winning at any price cannot completely suppress these values. There is an inherent contradiction between the crude egoism of modern individualism and its historical development that largely has its origin in the care of humans.

26. Social mobilisering och nya sociala rörelserAl-Khamisi, Rami

et al.

Sjöberg, Stefan

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

This study aims to investigate economic support carried out by social workers within municipal social services and how they deal with clients who need both economic support and are substance abusers. We made six semi-structured interviews in two municipalities. They were analysed by means of content analysis, system theory and self-determination theory (SDT) and in accordance with professional ethics. Our results show that the social workers face problems in planning and assessment concerning these clients, especially beacuse of social exclusion at the labour market. Leave only one way to re-entrance in society, voluntarily addiction treatment. The social workers are torn between the purpose of control in their investigation and how to support their clients, causing troublesome dilemmas in their profession. These clients are made visible as a vulnerable sub-group of clients in a welfare system built on activity. Motivation and cooperation with other organisations is the key to make change. Our study intends to promote development of both theroretical and practical knowledge in the field.

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Occupational and Public Health Sciences, Occupational health science. University of Gävle, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research.

Strömberg, Annika

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

Gustafsson, Susanne

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Occupational and Public Health Sciences, Public health science.

Lindberg, Per

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Occupational and Public Health Sciences, Occupational health science. University of Gävle, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research.

The concept of healthy workplace has been defined as an organization that maximizes the integration of worker goals for wellbeing and company objectives for profitability and productivity. Conditions in today’s working life make new approaches necessary in order to limit negative health effects of work and to enhance wellbeing and health at work. About 24 % of the working population in Sweden report to have had work-related disorders during the last twelve months. In order to achieve a sustainable working life it is likely that strategies and actions from different and new angles are needed.ObjectivesThe present study is a part of a larger study (the GodA –study; a Swedish acronym for good work environments and healthy workplaces) and aims to investigate how work environment factors, work ability, work motivation, work and life balance predict well-being at work.

Methods

The GodA study is a 2-year follow up study in Sweden with a survey feedback design in three companies with both blue- and white collar workers. One of the companies serves as “intervention-company”, the other two as controls. A baseline questionnaire was sent out 2013 and the results from the survey were reported back to the companies, which have been processing their results. In spring 2015 a follow up survey has been administered. Data have been analysed with univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses.

Results showed that not only work environment factors are important predictors. To maintain a healthy work place a promotion of balance between work and private life is needed.

32. Predictors of well-being at work

Anderzén, Ingrid

et al.

Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University.

Lindberg, Per

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Occupational and Public Health Sciences, Occupational health science. University of Gävle, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research.

Karlsson, Thomas

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Occupational and Public Health Sciences, Occupational health science. University of Gävle, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research.

Strömberg, Annika

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

Gustafsson, Susanne

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Occupational and Public Health Sciences, Public health science.

The concept of healthy workplace has been defined as an organization that maximizes the integration of worker goals for wellbeing and company objectives for profitability and productivity. Conditions in today’s working life make new approaches necessary in order to limit negative health effects of work and to enhance wellbeing and health at work. About 24 % of the working population in Sweden report to have had work-related disorders during the last twelve months. In order to achieve a sustainable working life it is likely that strategies and actions from different and new angles are needed.

The present study is a part of a larger study (the GodA –study; a Swedish acronym for good work environments and healthy workplaces) and aims to investigate how work environment factors, work ability, work motivation, work and life balance predict well-being at work.

Methods

The GodA study is a 2-year follow up study in Sweden with a survey feedback design in three companies with both blue- and white collar workers. One of the companies serves as “intervention-company”, the other two as controls. A baseline questionnaire was sent out 2013 and the results from the survey were reported back to the companies, which have been processing their results. In spring 2015 a follow up survey has been administered. Data from the baseline measurements have been analysed with univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses.

Results

A baseline multivariate linear regression model, which included background factors, perceived psychosocial work climate and work environmental factors (motivation, leadership, employee responsibilities, efficacy, work ability and management committed to employee health) and work life balance, showed that psychosocial work climate (B= .48, 95% CI=.27 – .69) leadership, (B= .27, 95% CI=.05– .49), work ability (B= -.12, 95% CI= .03 – .21), motivation (B= -33, 95% CI= .14 – .51) and work life balance (B= -.34, 95% CI=-.57– -.12), were significantly associated with well-being at work and explained 40% of the variance (Adjusted R2=.40, p<.001). Results from the two-year follow up will be presented at the conference.

Conclusions

Results showed that not only work environment factors are important predictors. To maintain ahealthy work place apromotion ofbalancebetween workand private life is needed.

Social media is taking an ever-bigger place in the everyday life of young people, but how much space does it really take. We read in the media about how young people are being subjected to abuse, insults and bullying through their social media.

Through our study, we want to show how some young people themselves argue about their use of social media. We also want to elevate their thoughts on the risks and opportunities they can see with social media. We have interviewed seven young people from different areas of Stockholm between the ages of 15-19 years.

The conclusion of the study is that young people can see that there are risks with social media. At the same time, they see that the potential of social media, such as giving them a fast communication channel to their friends, both close and far away, and also having access to news and information from around the world, contemplates the risks.

This C-level essay investigates Swedish social workers’ perceptions of their scope for handling clients’ applications and helping them become financially self-sustaining. Qualitative interviews (n=6) were carried out with social workers from two municipal social care offices in Stockholm. The results, analysed by empowerment theory, showed that social workers from the first office experienced limited resources to empower their clients due to a heavy work load and unclear guidelines, while the social workers from the other office perceived less restricted latitudes and well defined guidelines. A majority of the social workers perceived that the key strategy to help making the clients financially autonomous was to motivate them. This motivation stemmed from the client’s perceived possibilities to get an attractive employment in relation to the labour market situation, unemployment rate, social background, household situation, education, language skills, individual goalsetting, and age. The conclusion based on the result is that less restricted latitudes and well defined guidelines increase the social workers’ possibilities to empower the clients to become financially autonomous.

The aim of this study is twofold. First, the study aims to investigate how employment agency officers, in both public and private agencies, perceive how they help young people with immigrant background to access the labour market. Secondly, the study aims to investigate these professionals’ perspectives on the possibilities and barriers faced by young people with immigrant background in their process of labour integration.

A qualitative study, with face to face semi - structured interviews was conducted with five professionals from both the public and private sector of the Swedish work agency in one municipality in mid Sweden. A social constructivist perspective and empowerment and advocacy theory were used. The results show the importance of the Swedish language and its importance to establish social contacts in the process of finding jobs and integrate. The results also show other difficulties immigrants may face in the labor market such as regulations laid by employers or recruiters as requirements such as being fluent in Swedish language. According to the professionals, the youth immigrants with educational background have an easier access to integration. With "Nystartsjobb" (new start job) the youth immigrants can build networks, increase their language knowledge, get references and experience and job benefits in case of job loss.

‘Corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) and ‘socially responsible investment’ (SRI) have become predominant frameworks connecting business to society that have spread across the globe. They comprise a shared set of ideas and practices, such as those promoted in global reporting standards and by international organisations such as the UN Global Compact. Nonetheless, both are constructed and reproduced by companies in relation to context-specific social institutions, including norms and conventions shaping company engagement in social issues. Using a neo-institutionalist theoretical framework, the thesis examines constructions of social responsibility in discourse and within institutional contexts, across regions that are not often compared in the research terrain: two West European welfare states (Sweden and the UK) and two emerging African economies (South Africa and Mauritius). The purpose of the thesis is to add to the literature on CSR and SRI with a sociologically informed perspective that is comparative and connects institutional theory with social constructionism and a Foucauldian perspective on power. The thesis analyses how perceptions of CSR and SRI are constructed in relation to the social institutions that encase companies’ engagement with social issues, such as national level welfare configurations and the institution of financial investments. The main argument in this thesis is that CSR and SRI need to be seen as contextually constructed, in discourse and practice, in ways that draw the boundaries and set the conditions for company engagement with social issues.

The thesis comprises three articles. Article 1 is a content analysis of company self-reporting on CSR and the article examines how the content given to CSR relates to broader welfare configurations and as such differs in four national settings across the divide between emerging African economies and Western welfare states. Article 2 is a discourse analysis that examines interpretative repertoires occurring in company self-reporting across the same set of four countries. The interpretative repertoires are analysed as discursive practices where power intersects with the production of knowledge on CSR. Article 3 focuses on SRI and examines responsible investing as a form of institutional work that institutional investors engage in. Based on an interview study with institutional investors in Sweden, the article analyses institutional work as a process that has the effect of both institutional creation and maintenance and it connects these institutional processes to the construction of meaning on SRI. In its entirety the thesis contributes a sociological perspective on how prevailing understandings of corporate social responsibility come into being and are reproduced.

Today's research in mental health shows that young women between the ages of 18-24 are the largest group suffering from mental illness in Sweden. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the knowledge and understanding of mental illness regarding young women. We have conducted four qualitative interviews with professionals in the field of psychiatry. The outcome-analysis was based on gender perspective and systems theory, showing that none of the experiences of the professionals aligned with mental health among young female patients being connected to upbringing, family or ethnicity. Instead the professionals emphasized social media, school, high demands and shifting to adult life, as major contributors to mental health problems among young women. Contradictory to the statistics, the professionals did not see the differences between young people of different gender. Furthermore, the professional’s opinions illustrated that statistics do not reflect reality due to societal changes. Keywords: Young women, mental illness, professionals, adolescent psychiatry, social media, school

AbstractThis qualitative longitudinal study of 20 young Swedish care leavers investigates their subjective experience of and strategies for handling adversities when being in the process of leaving out-of-home care. The empirical data is based on two sets of interviews, the first conducted at time 1 (T1) when they were still in care but the moving out process had begun, the second (T2) 6-10 months later when the vast majority had left care. The thematic analysis based on resilience theory showed that the majority of the informants over time developed process-oriented strategies, which in our categorization emanated either from the inner world of the informants (e.g. through re-framing of experiences and an emerging self-reliance) or from their outer contextual world (e.g. through a restructuring of the social network). The results are discussed from a resilience theoretical perspective in which the informants' strategies are illustrated by the conceptual pair of 'navigation' and 'negotiation', used to make sense of their inner and outer world-oriented strategies.

This paper investigates young care leavers’ expectations of their future after discharge from care. The results are based on qualitative longitudinal data where 16- to 21-year-old care leavers (n = 15) were interviewed twice, first when still in care but planning for their discharge (T1) and the second time 6–9 months later (T2). The analysis using a general inductive approach showed that their expectations were dependent on the time horizon and that there was an obvious difference between the young informants’ short- and long-term expectations. Their short-term expectations consisted of worries connected to their approaching discharge (at T1) and how to cope with challenges of everyday life after discharge from care (at T2). These results seem to echo negative outcomes shown in previous quantitative research. However, the informants’ long-term expectations provide a different picture, being mainly positive in both interviews (T1 and T2). The results are discussed from a life course perspective, where the informants’ visions of their future are framed and understood in terms of the different stages of their transition process.

In late modernity sex has escaped its reproductive cage and people form pure relationships, based on mutual satisfaction (Giddens). Ironically, although older people are per definition non-reproductive, they have been neglected in studies on sexuality. The aim is to study sexual attitudes and practices among older people in life-course perspective. We present results from 1) a qualitative interview study with 28 63–91 year old Swedes currently dating or in a relationship (married, cohabiting, LAT) initiated 60+ and 2) a quantitative survey including 1225 60–90 year old Swedes (response rate 42%). The interviews revealed a normative change, from condemnation of extra-marital sex in young adulthood to encouragement of sexual relationships but not marriage in later life. Despite restrictive norms, the survey showed a majority (93%) had had their sexual debut before marriage. All informants had experienced the 1960’s sexual liberation and today liberal attitudes seem to encompass later life. Most had had rather active sexual lives. Half or the survey respondents had had ≥4 more sexual partners, and one in five ≥10. Today, an active sex-life was regarded as important for a good relationship. Many informants had interpreted sexual decline as “natural” and age-related, but re-discovered sexuality with their new partner. The survey confirmed relationship length as a better predictor of sexual activity than age. Cohort and period effects will be discussed. It has been argued that sexual practices will become more liberal in the future by cohort replacement. Our data indicates that “the future might already be here”.

42. Attitudes, experiences and expectations on new intimate relationships in later life

Introduction : More than a million, or almost half, of the 60+ population (46%) in Sweden today are singles (never married, divorced, widows/widowers), a majority are women and the actual number as well as the proportion of divorcees is increasing. Still, we know very little about the intimate lives of non-married elderly people or about re-partnering in later life. This presentation focuses attitudes to, expectations on, and experiences of new intimate relations in later life.

Method : It is based on results from a new representative survey of 3 000 Swedes, 60-90 years old (boosted with regards to non-married people), that was developed from questions generated by a recent qualitative interview study with 28 Swedes who had established a new relationship after the age of 60.

Results : We describe attitudes, expectations and experiences in the older population generally, but also in different groups defined on the basis of gender, class, life-course phase, sexual orientation, degree of urbanization and intimacy career. We also focus the importance of intimate relationships for older people’s quality of life, and reason about how structures of informal support may look for older people who enter new intimate relationships.

Conclusion : As of november 2012 we are still in an early phase of the survey work, thus conclusions are pending.

43. Changing Sexual Practices in New Intimate Relationships in Later Life – A Life Course Perspective

Bildtgård, Torbjörn

et al.

Stockholms Universitet.

Öberg, Peter

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

It has been argued that in late modernity sex has escaped its reproductive cage and people form pure relationships, based on mutual satisfaction. Ironically, although older people are per definition non-­‐reproductive, they have often been neglected in studies on sexuality. In this paper we present results from 1) a qualitative interview study with a strategic sample of 28 63–91 year old Swedes currently dating or in a heterosexual relationship (married, cohabiting, LAT) initiated 60+ and 2) a quantitative survey including answers from 1225 60–90 year old Swedes. The interviews revealed a clear normative change, from a cultural context that condemned extra-­‐marital sex in young adulthood to a context encouraging sexual relationships but not marriage in later life. All had experienced the sexual liberation of the 1960s, and today, these liberal attitudes seem to encompass later life. Today, an active sex-­‐life is regarded as important for a good relationship and sexual attraction was seen as a precondition for newrelationships. Many informants had interpreted sexual decline in former relationships as “natural ageing”, but re-­‐discovered sexuality with their new partner. In the survey, a majority (93 %) had had their sexual debut before marriage (despite the restrictive norms). Half or the respondents have had ≥ 4 sexual partners, and one in five ≥ 10. Sexual activity correlated negatively with relationship length. It has often been argued that sexual values and practices will become more liberal in the future by cohort replacement. Our data indicates that “the future might already be here”.

44. Förändrade intimitetsformer bland äldre i det senmoderna samhället [Changing forms of intimacy among older people in late modern society]Bildtgård, Torbjörn

et al.

Öberg, Peter

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to a neglected reality in Swedish social research: New romantic relationships in later life. Our theoretical points of departure are the transformation of intimacy and the transition from a culture of marriage to a culture of divorce. We ask if the transformation of intimacy has reached later life and investigate late life divorce, attitudes to and choice of union form in late life heterosexual relationships, relationship history and the importance of a relationship for life satisfaction. The results, which are based both on demographic data and a survey to 60-90 year old Swedes (n=1225), show that changing relationship patterns in late modern Sweden have reached older people. In romantic relationships initiated in later life LAT is the preferred union form, followed by cohabitation, while marriage is a rare choice. In some respects this makes older people an avant-garde in the investigation of alternative union forms. The results also show the importance of romantic relationships for life satisfaction in later life independent of union form. Finally we criticize Swedish census data, which is based on civil status, for giving a somewhat distorted image of older people's family and romantic lives.

45. Gendered Ideals vs. Realities for Partner-Age Unions in Later Life

Bildtgård, Torbjörn

et al.

Social Work, Stockholm University.

Öberg, Peter

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

This paper focuses on actual and ideal partner-age among older Swedes, from a gender perspective on age-homo/heterogamy. The paper is based on a survey to 60–90 year old Swedes, currently either singles or in a cross-gender relationship (married, cohabiting, LAT) (n=1225; response rate 42%). All analyses were made also separately for men and women. Results: Unions tend to follow a traditionally gendered age structure: 56% of men but only 16% of women have a younger partner. This age-pattern is more pronounced for those: in first unions (p<.001); in unions initiated before the 1970s (p<.01). There was no significant variation with union form or urbanity (modernity), and not with either education or income (power resources). Ideal partner-age correlates strongly (p<.001; R2=0,76) with actual partner-age for respondents in unions (ideal only slightly younger). Single men and women are freer to envision a younger partner: almost all (92%) single men and half of the single women (47%) prefer a younger partner (8,9 years younger on average for men; 2,2 for women). The proportion preferring a younger partner increases by age, leading to increasingly incompatible age ideals. The results will be discussed in relation to life-course theory; gender and power; the deinstitutionalization hypothesis.

46. Intimacy and Ageing

Bildtgård, Torbjörn

et al.

Stockholms universitet.

Öberg, Peter

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

To begin new relationships in later life is increasingly common in large parts of the Western world. This timely book addresses the gap in knowledge about late life repartnering and provides a comprehensive map of the changing landscape of late life intimacy.

Part of the Ageing in a Global Context series, the book examines the changing structural conditions of intimacy and ageing in late modernity. How do longer lives, changing norms and new technologies affect older people’s relationship careers, their attitudes to repartnering and in the formation of new relationships? Which forms do these new unions take? What does a new intimate relationship offer older men and women and what are the consequences for social integration? What is the role and meaning of sex?

By introducing a gains-perspective the book challenges stereotypes of old age as a period of loss and decline. It also challenges the image of older people as conservative, and instead presents them as an avant-garde that often experiment with new ways of being together.

47. New intimate relationships and informal care obligations in later life

Bildtgård, Torbjörn

et al.

Social Work, Stockholm University.

Öberg, Peter

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

Despite increased research interest in transitions into new intimate relationships in later life, little focus has been on how transitions affect older people’s social networks. We investigate the impact of entering into new intimate relationships in later life on interdependent lives. Results are based on both qualitative interviews with 28 Swedes (63–91 years) either dating or living in new relationships initiated 60+ (marriage, cohabitation, LAT), and a quantitative survey to 60–90 year old Swedes (n=1225; response rate 42%). A central theoretical frame is Elder’s (1994) principle of interdependent lives. A new relationship usually meant integration into the new partner’s social and filial networks (some problems will be discussed) and a restructuring of the relationship chain so that time and energy is redirected to the new partner. A new partner was described as a resource for living independent lives by the older informants, and as a way of “unburdening” the children. Finally, the qualitative interviews hinted at a hierarchy of dependencies. This was confirmed by the survey. A majority of respondents would primarily turn to their partners for social, emotional and practical support, with children as a distant second and “others” third. An exception was personal hygiene, where partners remained the first choice, but where the social services were preferred to children. This hierarchy was the same in new relationships. The results, partly contradicting previous research findings, are discussed in light of Western individualism generally and Swedish welfare-state and state supported individualism in particular.

49. New intimate relationships in later life

Bildtgård, Torbjörn

et al.

Social Work, Stockholm University.

Öberg, Peter

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

Lots of prior social gerontological research has focused on filial rela-tions in informal care as well as the impact of widowhood on social relation-ships in later life. In this paper we instead ask how a new intimate relation-ship in later life effect relationships with children, relatives and friends. In particular we focus on the effects that a new intimate partner in later life has on filial, social and care obligations. To answer these questions, qualitative interviews were conducted with a strategical sample of 28 Swedes, 63–91 years, who had established a new intimate relationship after the age of 60 (or who are dating). We found that the respondents describe changes over their life-time in what we conceptualize as the ‘relationship chain’ – a hierarchy in social and care responsibilities – where the new partner in established relations steps in at the very front of the chain. This is positively perceived by the informants, who recurrently describe their partners as a resource for their own autonomy as well as that of their children, relatives and friends.

50. New intimate relationships in later life

Bildtgård, Torbjörn

et al.

Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.

Öberg, Peter

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.

The aim of this study is to investigate the consequences for linked lives of entering into new intimate relationships in later life. The empirical data is based on qualitative interviews with 28 Swedes aged 63 to 91 years, who have established a new intimate relationship after the age of 60 years or are currently dating. Theories on linked lives and individualization are used. The results show that children were generally supportive of their older parents’ unions and older individuals were often integrated into the new partner’s network. However, a new union also restructured the relationship chain so that time and energy were redirected to the new partner. Older parents preferred to be dependent on partners rather than children/others. A new partner was described as a source for autonomy and a way of “unburdening” children. Results are discussed in light of Western individualism generally and Swedish state supported individualism in particular.